The roads of Soria have seen Manuel Merillas and Anna Comet debut as Spanish mountain race champions. In this seventh edition for the national Trail Running title, both managed to cross in first position for the first time in their careers.
Manuel Merillas had to get rid of his rivals for the title at the end. Together with Zaid Ait Malek and Miguel Caballero he ran in the lead for the first six and a half kilometers. First, he managed to get rid of Caballero when they reached an area of high heat and little wind that affected his traveling companion.
From there, Merillas had Ait by his side until kilometer 30 with a pace that had left the then third in the test (Juan Javier Jiménez) 10 minutes behind. "I overtook him on the climbs and he caught me on the descents and we did the rest together," Merillas explained about the development of the race.
Finally, Manuel Merillas pressed on in the area he knows well in the lands of Soria. "That's how we went to the beech forest, which is a fairly tough climb of 400 or 500 (meters of unevenness) positive in nothing. I got to the top with a two-minute margin and the descent was like running a 5,000 (meters). I shot to death and I didn't I looked back", he said in statements to the Spanish Athletics Federation to describe his winning strategy in an area that he knows well because he has run several times.
Manuel Merillas finished the test with a time of 3h40:24, ahead of Zaid Ait Malek (3h45:50) and Juan Javier Jiménez (3h53:55).
Anna Comet goes solo
Anna Comet's strategy to win the individual championship among women was different. With the experience of having been runner-up in 2017, she preferred to go solo from the beginning to only measure herself during the 36 kilometers of the competition. "It was a bit difficult psychologically, because at no time have I had references, I didn't know if I had them stuck or not," he acknowledged when he reached the finish line.
Thanks to the victory in Soria, the Catalan runner was able to reverse the bad taste in her mouth left by an injury that has affected her during the first months of the year. "The luck is that the race is spectacular and this compensates for that suffering. I have achieved a title that I did not yet have", she congratulated herself.
Anna Comet completed the test in 4h31:30. After her, second was Julia Font (4h39:00), who congratulated herself for having achieved a place in the next world championship of the specialty. Mireia Pons was third (4h43:41).
Regarding the team classification, the title stayed at home, with a victory for Desafío Urbión (12h08:35), with the sum of the times of Manuel Merillas (first), Francisco Alonso (tenth) and Rodrigo Vicente (fourteenth). Second was the Ekuon Sport Team and third was the KM Vertical Torrelavega, reports the RFEA.
Men's individual classification men's Spanish Trail Championship 2021
- Manuel Merillas Moledo 3:40:24
- Zaid Ait Malek Oulkis 3:45:50
- Juan Javier Jiménez Oller 3:53:55
- Cristóbal Adell Albalat 4:00:50
- Beñat Catarain Razquin 4:02:31
- David López Castán 4:02:59
- Miguel Caballero Ortega 4:03:16
- Carlos Antonio Jiménez Lozano 4:07:11
- Guzmán González Mantecón 4 :07:47
- Francisco Alonso Álvarez 4:09:32
Men's individual women's classification Spanish Trail Championship 2021
- Anna Comet Pascua 4:31:30
- Julia Font Gómez 4:39:00
- Mireia Pons Torres 4:43:41 < li>Rosa Navarro García 4:55:08
- Eva Mesado Ortiz 5:17:11
- Lourdes Oyarzabal Etxeberria 5:40:50
- Rocío Domínguez Martín 6:34:16
